Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.15

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of 1.15 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 14th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. This is a 15.0% increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00.

Morgan Stanley has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Morgan Stanley has a payout ratio of 43.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Morgan Stanley to earn $12.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.7%.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE MS opened at $228.52 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $210.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.27. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $135.26 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $360.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.